Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

My boyfriend and I have totally fallen in love with Seville and would love to move there for 6 months- 1 year (possibly longer if all well!).
We are learning Spanish however we won't be fluent for a long time yet.
Does anyone have any advise of where to look for a job where not much Spanish is required?
I have a lot of customer service management experience and my boyfriend has worked for councils and has a law degree.
Once we're out there I'm sure we'll pick it up even quicker, we'd love to move early next year.

Any help will be much appreciate!

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

You don't give your age or if you have a family. More importantly you don't say how long you will be able to support yourself without income. I would suggest the last point is the most important. Jobs are at a premium especially for non spanish speakers. I wish you good luck, because I think that you will need it.
:fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed:

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

Hi Pete, thanks for replying.
We have no children and are both mid 20's.

We could probably support ourselves for a few months, however would like to have a job ASAP to fully immerse ourselves and don't want big gaps in our cv's as I know this looks bad to any employer.
It seems very risky to me to go over with no hope of jobs hence posting in here to get some advice.

Thanks,

Susie

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

What about hopping on to a plane for a quick look around. There are flights from East mids / Liverpool/ Stanstead direct to Seville. Ok its Ryanair, but its cheap (ish) and you can have a look around for an area to stay and also ask some questions about jobs. You could do some searching on the net first. Hope that helps.
Pete

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

As Concierges for the Spanish section of BE we would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let us know if you need any further help.

Rosemary and Graham

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

Hi, Sevilla is a beautiful city, noisy busy and smelly in parts, I don't work but hear that unemployment in the area is really 40% not the 20 something that is quoted. So finding work be a job in itself. For accomodation try sevilla5 website..there are many many rentals in and around Sevilla.

Pete makes sense saying come and do a fact finding trip, there are many hostels to stay in, so maybe choose two in different parts of town. Or one in and one on the outskirts. Good luck.

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

Hi susieuse

Unfortunatelty I feel your chances of finding a job are very slim. Without being fluent in Spanish maybe you could do a tefl and teach English? I cant think of anything else you could do. Maybe work in a bar once your Spanish improves?

Once you are fluent in Spanish (which will take a year at least) then it may take 3 months or so to get a job anyway.

There are good jobs in Spain but not that many and even less in Seville and you need to be well qualified, obviously speak fluent Spanish and have good connections. An English law degree doesnt count for much in Spain.

Maybe it will give you some context when I say I know a Spanish girl who has a degree and a masters and is bilingual in English and Spanish who got their first permanent job recently aged 31 working in Springfield for 900 euros per month.

I also have stories of people who have done much better than this, but they are very well qualified (engineers, lawyers, MBAs, speak 5 languages etc).

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

Thanks for comments all.

We live in London at the moment so are very used to an expensive city life!
We are planning another trip for October to have a more in-depth look at everything.

Good to have the context Cricketman, I didn't think this would be easy I have to say! I do have some family who live in Portugal who are very familiar with Spain, especially Seville- they are also fluent in Spanish so they may have some connections to take advantage of.

Thanks again all.

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

Don't meant to be cruel...but if you don't speak Spanish...what exactly do you think you can offer?

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

Tend to agree, the law degree and your experience will count for pretty much nothing without any Spanish. Unemployement for Spanish speaking under 25's is over 40%, your chances of succeeding are minimal. Go and have a great time for a few months, it's a great city, but if you both have jobs in UK, I'd advise hanging on to them. Maybe concentrate on getting a good level of Spanish and try in a few years when things might, just might, have improved a bit. The Spanish themselves are doing the complete opposite, thousands of highly qualified young people are leaving Spain to find work anywhere in the world where they can, the situation is desperate for youngsters.

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

Hello, susiesuse, let me tell you the story from the opposite side.

I am a Spaniard, from Seville, who now lives in the UK. First of all let's talk about the language: My wife has a psychology degree from Spain, but her English is rather basic, so she is attending one of those ESOL courses. There are people from different nationalities in her class: many Spaniards, some Poles, Italians, etc., all of them with a basic command of English, but most of them with University degrees. Their jobs? Many of them work at a local Cadburys factory, others at restaurants, hotels, etc. doing the cleaning and dirty work. None has a graduate job because of their English.

Your situation in Spain will be exactly the same, if not worst. If you do not reasonably speak Spanish, I can't think of a job for you there, unless you are ready to do some cleaning at a very low wage. But you don't want to do this. Do you? ;)

We can now live in the UK because I have a good command of English. This rule is true for any country you go: no command of local language = rubbish jobs in most circumstances.

Now let's say you speak a perfect Spanish. Even then your chances of getting a job are slim in Seville. My wife, since graduation quite a few years ago, has only been able to work for 9 months. I mean a full time job as a psychologist. All other jobs, they wanted a psychologist, but either didn't pay her as a psychologist, they officially were part time but she worked full time (yes, they paid her a full time salary, but social security contributions were those of a part time job, hence less benefits or pension in the future.). She has even worked quite a long time without contract at all, "just practising".

Now, she has a sister who was working in a bookshop. She worked full time, but her contract was part time and a salary of 500 euro per month. Oh, good news! she has now found even a better job in another bookshop: she's gotten a brand new part time contract for a full time job with a much better salary of ... 700 euros per month.

Of course you can do better. Many people do better, but it is far more difficult than here in the UK, even for us Spaniards who speak Spanish reasonably well.

My advise is you get a cheap Ryanair flight to Seville and spend there one month or so (that was what I did when I first came to the UK). Find a temporary accommodation, speak with the local people so you can really assess how good is your Spanish, and even visit some job centres (there are Government ones, called Servicio Andaluz de Empleo, and private ones, most of them temporary job agencies. Even there is service called Andalucia Orienta where they can advise you on your situation).

You don't specify whether your partner is a lawyer or just a law graduate. If he is a lawyer, there is EU law which allows him to register and work as a lawyer in any Member State (he should know this, I am studying part time for an LLB in English law and EU law dealing with this is one of the required subjects). In case he is just a law graduate but has not qualified as a solicitor in the UK, he can also get his English degree recognised by the Spanish Education Ministry and qualify as a lawyer there, though he will of course need to speak fluent Spanish for this as he will be required to attend a legal practice course and then take an exam.

Possibly, if you are a graduate, your best chance is in the English language teaching niche. But do not expect anything extraordinary. There are hundreds of English speaking natives offering private tuition English classes. Other chance is to set up your own business, but for this you will need an idea and, of course, some capital.

Whatever you do, enjoy it if that is your dream. It took us quite a long time to take the leap, but I feel quite happy here in Edinburgh, but for the weather...

Just let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

Fawinds.....great post, honest and straightforward.

Rosemary

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

I totally agree.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

me too.....:thumbsup::D

Re: Moving to Seville (hopefully!)
 

...and me! Pretty much what many have been saying, but it's always more telling coming from a local. And congratulations on your English!